Map Painter '84

Map Painter '84 is a minimalist strategy prototype. Expand and conquer to paint the map blue! Tutorial in game.

A bit of trying to get back to basics, the idea was to hit the marks of a classic strategy game (exploration, development, conquest) in as minimal a way that still creates interesting decisions. It's runs as a terminal program for Windows and Linux.

Includes a territory control mechanic that's based on landscape movement costs, and an inefficient GOAP AI implementation. (In hindsight I think GOAP is probably not really the right approach for strategy game AI. Makes more sense for moving agents I think. Plans barely vary and it could have easily just been a decision tree.)

Strategy loop design goals, following the 4x formula:

Exploration-> Should have a way to discover territory, and there should be a reason to explore, either economic, such as valuable terrain, or Civ-style goodie huts.

Expansion-> Should be a reason to expand, likely to acquire more resources, with a choice between fast expansion or turtling at home.

Exploitation-> Should be able to convert the landscape into resources that can be poured back into further exploration, expansion and conquest, with at least two resource types and two upgrades to choose from.

Extermination-> There should be an AI opponent who is also trying to paint the map their colour, and conquering them will be the victory condition.

Repeat-> The game should be long enough that in most games the player does actually have to loop back through multiple steps of exploration and expansion before having the means to defeat their enemy. 

Run:

Windows: Open the exe. It should open the appropriate command line window. (Tip for people on large screens, make the command line window larger by holding CTRL over it and using the scroll wheel).

Linux: Was tested in a Ubuntu virtual box and has some extra jank. You'll have to open it from the terminal and might have to increase the terminal window's size. (I misremembered the old IBM terminal size as 80x30 instead of 80x24. Maybe just full screen the terminal if you didn't start there to begin with. ) I figure anyone using Linux can probably handle it.